The present invention is directed generally to electronic devices that provide for the setting and/or calibrating of a feature and/or function, and in particular, to an improved methodology for the setting/calibrating a feature or function in a setting/calibrating mode of an “analog type” electronic device, in which an indicator hand is used to guide the user as to which pusher(s)/selector(s) is/are needed to be actuated to effectuate the setting/calibrating of the feature and/or function. An electronic device that carries out the foregoing method is also provided.
Ideas to assist users in setting and/or calibrating a feature and/or function in an electronic device, such as a wristwatch, are broad and varied. For example, in watches commonly referred to as “digital” watches, actual printed text may be provided along the bezel of the device (or on the display itself) to prompt users through a setting and/or calibration sequence.
In “analog” watches, the idea of printing on the watch bezel is often times less than desirable, and may even be less than practical since limited information can be provided on the bezel itself while still remaining aesthetically pleasing. Therefore, a perceived deficiency in the prior art is the ability to provide a user with easy to remember steps for setting/calibrating a feature or function in an electronic device of the “analog” type.
Further compounding this difficulty is the fact that users may not understand (or remember) the sequences of pusher actuations (or steps) for setting or calibrating a particular feature or function in such an “analog” type electronic device. That is, it is a perceived difficulty to require users to read and/or remember the required sequence of steps to achieve a particular setting or calibration of a feature or function in the device, and it is difficult to expect users to read and/or remember such a setting or calibrating sequence (i.e. what actuators to push, when to push them and/or in what order they are to be actuated).
At least one successful attempt has been made at overcoming the foregoing deficiency. Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 7,258,481 describes, among other things, a method of indicating which hand is next for setting/calibrating by causing said hand to “waggle” (e.g. rotating slightly CCW (or CW) and then in the opposite CW (or CCW) direction)) thereby in effect telling the user, “Hey, I am the next hand ready for setting/calibration.” By this method, the electronic device assists in “walking” the user through a setting/calibration sequence by letting the user know which hand is next for setting/calibration.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, it is believed that further advances in the art are both desirable and achievable. For example, there is still a need in the art to overcome the aforementioned deficiencies of having to require a user to read, understand, remember and/or recall a user actuation sequence in the context of setting and/or calibrating a feature or function in an electronic device in which one or more actuations of a pusher/selector is/are required. In addition, there is a need to provide users with a method of more easily carrying out a sequence of pusher/selector actuations in order to set/calibrate a feature or function in an “analog type” electric device. Further, there is a need to provide an interface that assists the user through a setting/calibration sequence that may require one or more pusher/selector actuations for which the user may not otherwise know, understand, remember and/or be able to recall.
It is believed that the foregoing is best achieved by pointing to or rotating (e.g. “spinning,” “wiggling,” “waggling” and/or “oscillating”) one or more indicator hands at a position so as to indicate which pusher/selector is next needed for actuation to effectuate a setting/calibration of the feature or function. In this way, the user need not be required to read, learn, know, understand, remember and/or recall actuation sequences, whether simple or complicated, and whether such sequences require one (1) or more actuations, and/or regardless of the order in which such actuations are needed to be effectuated, since the device will in effect prompt the user accordingly.